{"product_id":"women-islam-and-abbasid-identity-nadia-maria-el-cheikh-9780674736368","title":"Women, Islam, and Abbasid Identity","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhen the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyad dynasty in 750 CE, an important element in legitimizing their newly won authority involved defining themselves in the eyes of their Islamic subjects. Nadia Maria El Cheikh shows that ideas about women were central to the process by which the Abbasid caliphate, which ushered in Islam's Golden Age, achieved self-definition. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn most medieval Islamic cultures, Arab Islam stood in opposition to \u003ci\u003ejahl\u003c\/i\u003e, or the state of impurity and corruption that existed prior to Islam's founding. Over time, the concept of \u003ci\u003ejahl\u003c\/i\u003e evolved into a more general term describing a condition of ignorance and barbarism--as well as a condition specifically associated in Abbasid discourse with women. Concepts of womanhood and gender became a major organizing principle for articulating Muslim identity. Groups whose beliefs and behaviors were perceived by the Abbasids as a threat--not only the \u003ci\u003ejahilis \u003c\/i\u003ewho lived before the prophet Muhammad but peoples living beyond the borders of their empire, such as the Byzantines, and heretics who defied the strictures of their rule, such as the Qaramita--were represented in Abbasid texts through gendered metaphors and concepts of sexual difference. These in turn influenced how women were viewed, and thus contributed to the historical construction of Muslim women's identity. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThrough its investigation of how gender and sexuality were used to articulate cultural differences and formulate identities in Abbasid systems of power and thought, \u003ci\u003eWomen, Islam, and Abbasid Identity\u003c\/i\u003e demonstrates the importance of women to the writing of early Islamic history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Nadia Maria El Cheikh\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0674736362\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780674736368\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Harvard University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/06\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 176\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.93lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.30h x 6.00w x 0.80d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/01\/2016","brand":"Nadia Maria El Cheikh","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44120028676351,"sku":"9780674736368","price":55.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_24a7e4fc-648a-4f1d-a371-fdce19f4a8b7.jpg?v=1687412176","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/women-islam-and-abbasid-identity-nadia-maria-el-cheikh-9780674736368","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}